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An altered state of consciousness (ASC),[1] also called an altered state of mind, altered mental status (AMS) or mind alteration, is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking state. By 1892, the expression was in use in relation to hypnosis,[2] though there is an ongoing debate as to whether hypnosis is to be identified as an ASC according to its modern definition. The next retrievable instance, by Max Mailhouse from his 1904 presentation to conference,[3] however, is unequivocally identified as such, as it was in relation to epilepsy, and is still used today. In academia, the expression was used as early as 1966 by Arnold M. Ludwig[4] and brought into common usage from 1969 by Charles Tart.[5][6] It describes induced changes in one's mental state, almost always temporary. A synonymous phrase is "altered state of awareness".
The faculties of reason and judgement, the elaborate and regulative faculties, in this altered state of consciousness, are obviously dependent on sense perceptions, and vary accordingly as they do.
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Read at the 4th Annual Meeting of the Assoc. for the Study of Epilepsy and the care and treatment of Epileptics, 22 Nov 1904: 'That is to say the psyche may take on an independent action entirely foreign to the nature and personality of the epileptic when free from an attack, and this altered state of consciousness may lead to acts more or less harmful to patient or bystander'